


Of Sticks and Stones and New Beginnings

by honeypower



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, happy new year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 00:49:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeypower/pseuds/honeypower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A little thing for the new year!</p>
    </blockquote>





	Of Sticks and Stones and New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> A little thing for the new year!

New Year was only a few hours away, but Zoe didn't care. Or at least she had managed to convince herself she didn't care. After all, there were more pressing issues she needed to take care of. Like her experiments that she had to keep an eye on all the time and the piles and piles of results she still needed to go through. Every day that she spent on getting ahead in discovering the secret of the titans, was a day less that they would have to spend under their reign. Yes, her work was very important. Very, very important.  
  
And yet she sighed rubbed her temples and stretched out in her chair. It was nearly impossible to hold on to one thought or idea. Outside she could hear drunk people singing and every now and then a firecracker would go off. Inside it was quiet and dark. She was alone in the lab, even Moblit had found a reason to excuse himself and join the festivities. Staying alone in the lab was a good thing. She had time to think and work without being interrupted. And besides, there was nobody at the party she wanted to see. Or rather, the person she would normally want to see would probably be there. But things were different now. She had no intention of seeing him that night or ever again if it were possible.  
  
On the other side of town, Levi sat in his room, meticulously cutting his hair and grooming himself. He didn't have many opportunities to wear his black tie ensemble, so he took his time to make sure every piece of clothing was worn properly. As he fastened his bow-tie, he looked into the mirror and sighed. Why did she always have to be like that? Deep down he knew it was his fault, after all a person can only take so many insults before they turn sour. Regardless of whether he was joking or not. And either way, he had clearly pushed her to her very limit. And now she wouldn't talk to him anymore.  
  
He tried to convince himself that it was her own fault. After all, nobody was stopping her from taking regular baths or combing her hair once in a while. He had to admit that there was nothing she could do about her eyesight. That was true. But he had always thought she could handle his teasing. She always seemed so strong.  
  
But it came differently. It was the famous the famous straw that breaks the camels back. He had merely referred to her as *four-eyes* like he always did, because he needed some input on a strategy he had been thinking of. Instead of simply answering him, she exploded. Throwing every insult she knew at him, her face contorting in anger, before turning on her heal and stomping off. That was three days prior. Since then she hadn't said one word to him, ignoring any attempt he made to talk to her and treating him like air.  
  
Not that he minded it. If she wanted to behave like an overgrown child, he was not going to stop her. In fact, the past days had been like a holiday. Finally he could relax and didn't have to listen to her telling him over and over again about this thing she did. Or that thing she saw. Or her experiments. Or her theories. Most of the time it was about titans, sometimes gossip, neither of which interested him. He deep cleaned his apartment without her dragging dirt back in. And he sorted his collection of cleaning agents without having to stop midway because she was knocking at the door. He cleaned his 3D maneuver gear equipment and made sure his blades were in order. He even managed to fix some things around the room, like the door of his cupboard that had a loose hinge. Finally everything was in order and would stay in order. Nobody would knock his things over ever again or leave greasy finger prints on mirrors. Never again. Ever.  
  
As he looked around his perfectly cleaned apartment he couldn't lie to himself any longer. No matter how he twisted and turned it, he was getting bored. Very bored. Maybe even lonely. It was just not the same without her to get on his nerves. And as he thought about it, he realized that he actually didn't even deserve her company. He never understood why she had chosen him as a friend of all people the Scouting Legion had to offer. Him, an ex-criminal, murder with a foul mood, manipulative streak and tendency to violence. He teased her because he was aware of all this and wanted her to keep her distance. But she never did. She understood his humour and was always at his side. At least not until then.  
  
Meanwhile, Zoe looked at the green sparkly dress draped over the chair beside her. She run her fingers across the beautiful sequins and rhinestones. It was a strapless dress, with sparkly bits around the chest and back, that gradually met with a green, silky material that went up to the ground. She would probably freeze in it, but at least she would look good for him. That's what she had thought when choosing it. The dress came with a small green bag and green flat shoes to go along with it. Flat shoes she had picked specifically because of him. Because she knew he would hate it if she looked uber-tall standing next to him. Now she wished she had picked the highest of heels available.  
  
As she looked at the dress and shoes, she realized that there was no need to keep away just because of him. She still had more than enough time to get ready and go to the party. And there would be more than enough space for the two of them to co-exist and have fun and never even see each other. She looked back at her paperwork and then at the dress and decided that it was time to get ready.  
  
By the time Levi arrived at the party, it was half-past ten. He instinctively looked around for her brown ponytail, then remembered that she was not talking to him. As he walked around aimlessly, knowing that there was no reason to look for her, he observed everyone else arrive at the party. Sipping on a glass of sparkling wine, he caught himself scanning the room for her again.  
  
"Looking for someone?" Mike asked.  
  
"Not really," he tried to lie, but the question took him by surprise. Was it really that obvious?  
  
"I don't think she's coming," Mike continued unabashed. "I saw her sulking around the lab area just some hours ago. Everyone had already left and she was still glued to her desk.  
  
"Hmm," Levi said trying to sound disinterested.  
  
"Maybe she'll still show up, but I doubt it," he said.  
  
"Her loss," Levi said flatly, but he had already made up her mind. He was going to go and get her out of that hole.  
  
Zoe let the warm water run along her body trying not to get her hair wet. Since it was already so late, it would never dry on time. She lathered up the bar of lavender soap Levi had once given her and rubbed it across her body. For her hair she would have to use dry shampoo. At least all of his rude presents he had given her over time, were beginning to come in handy. She thought about how surprised he had looked back then when she shouted at him. He really hadn't been expecting it. But how stupid could he have been to believe that his insults didn't hurt? "Shitty-glasses this, four-eyes that!" Sure, he was an ex-criminal and probably used to a rougher way of life than she was. Which was why she had chosen to ignore his words at first. After all words were just words and he was just another comrade, the Scouting Legion was full of crazy people like him. She didn't care. But one day, they suddenly started burning. Each time he commented about her state of dress, or her hair or her glasses, she felt a little bit worse. Until she let it all out.  
  
As she hastily dried her body and slipped into her underwear she tried to look forward to the party, but couldn't. What was she going to do if not hang around with him? With whom else could she be like that? Mike was really nice, but they weren't on that level of a friendship. Erwin tended to be reserved and it would be odd if she behaved like that around her superior. Everyone else was nice enough, but none of them was Levi. She hated that so much of her well-being depended on such an asshole.  
  
She applied the dry shampoo to her hair and combed through it, just like it said on the box. Looking at her hair the mirror she liked the result. Shiny and clean-looking without the hastle of having to wash and dry it. She had to admit that it was a pretty handy product and that Levi probably had her best interest at heart, even if he had a strange way of showing it. But what was to be expected from someone who was that bad with words. She put her hair into an up-do, that turned out messy, but the kind of messy that looked deliberate, and fastened it all with sparkly hair clips. Next her clip on earrings, the only ones she owned, and finally the dress. She slipped in and fastened the zip, then looked into the mirror. It was not big enough to show her entire body, but she liked what she saw. It was going to make his eyes water and she couldn't wait.  
  
As she stepped out of the lab, with her uniform jacket on top of her dress to protect from the cold, Levi slipped out of the party. It had taken him long enough to gradually get away from the group without causing too much of a fuss and now it was already quarter-past eleven. He broke into a sprint, knowing that it would take him exactly fifteen minutes to get there. As he ran, he thought of what he was going to say to her so she would finally break her silence. Would he apologize, or say nothing? Would he try to explain himself or promise to make it up to her or stop calling her names. There was no way of knowing whether she would even accept his apology. There was a chance, that all he was doing was in vain.  
  
He arrived in front of the building and noticed that all the lights were off. He tried to doors, but they were locked. Thinking that she might have locked herself in, he went around the building to the window that was at her office and peered in. It was dark. She was not there.  
  
Immediately he had a mental image of her in her room, maybe eating, maybe sleeping, all alone. He chuckled to himself and thought that that was what she got for being so stubborn. But he still couldn't stop himself from heading to her place. Only to find it deserted as well. He looked at the church tower a few streets away and saw twenty to twelve. If he didn't think on his feet, he would not be able to meet her before twelve o'clock. And that would mean that their fight would spill into the next year, which he was suddenly trying to avoid by all means.  
  
On the other side of town, Zoe had just arrived at the party. Her eyes darted around the room nervously, as she held onto her glass of sparkling wine. The second one already. Sure, he was short, but even then she could always spot him in a crowd. It was obvious that he hadn't shown up to the party.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a pang of guilt. Had she been too hard on him? Surely, he deserved all that came to him. There is no way he could expect to insult her like that every chance that he got, without her caving one day. It hurt her feelings even if she chose not to show it, and now he was getting what he deserved. But deep down, she just wanted him to show up so she could tell him the newest joke she had come up with. He wasn't the kind of guy to laugh at things, but her jokes always did the job. And when he laughed she couldn't help but laugh herself. Especially when it was the unfunny ones. She noticed that she hadn't laughed once in three days.  
  
As she walked around the party, greeting people she knew, smiling like she always did, she finally found Mike. He complimented her on her dress and then just looked at her.  
  
"What is it? It's the hair, right? I didn't get the style right?" she asked raising her hand to adjust the do.  
  
"No, not at all. The hair looks beautiful. It's nothing."  
  
"Then the dress. Too sparkly? Too over the top?"  
  
"It's not the dress. Everything about you tonight looks beautiful. Not that it usually doesn't."  
  
"That's nice of you, Mike. But you're hiding something. It's him, right? He told you something," she said.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Don't act so clueless. Him."  
  
"I have no idea what you mean."  
  
"Have you seen him today? Was he here?"  
  
"I thought I saw him in the crowd, but he isn't around, so I might have been mistaken."  
  
"And that nose of yours?"  
  
"What's with it?"  
  
"It knows everything. You know something, tell me!"  
  
In that moment, the DJ announced that it was ten to twelve. Most guests had already arrived and the party was at it's height. Zoe tried to join in the fun, but her mind was somewhere else. She had come hoping to have fun despite him being around and now she was pulling a long face, because he wasn't.  
  
Levi on the other hand was running back to the Scouting Legion HQ. He had wasted about five minutes contemplating if he should even head back at all. After all, it was not clear whether Zoe would be there or not. She could be anywhere at this point and it made no sense to go back and hang around Mike, who simply had to put his nose in everyone's business. Quite literally.  
  
But now he was running. The clock had shown five-to as he dashed past and if he put in all he had, he would manage to get to the party on time. Whether he was going to find her or not, was another story.  
  
Zoe looked around and noticed, that slowly, but surely, the evening was approaching it's climax. Slowly, groups began to break up as some individuals formed couples. Some of them were looking into each others eyes longingly, while others shyly held hands. Others were still dancing, while others talked and whispered into each others ears. She began to wonder how she had never noticed that the entire world was made of couples. And anyway, it wasn't like she was planning to do anything of the likes with Levi. And even if she was, he probably wasn't. They were friends and she simply didn't want to be alone.  
  
She stood around, not knowing what to do, when suddenly the countdown began.  
  
"Ten!"  
  
"Nine!"  
  
Why did they have to count down each and every second?  
  
"Eight!"  
  
Why were they having so much fun, while she wasn't?  
  
"Seven!"  
  
Why did they have to rub it in like that?  
  
"Six!"  
  
Why was she still thinking of him?  
  
"Five!"  
  
It was hopeless, it was truly hopeless. She took another swig out of her glass, the sixth one, hoping the fizzy drink would liven her mood.  
  
"Four!"  
  
What had she been expecting, really? She let out a burp.  
  
"Three!"  
  
"Two!"  
  
"One!"  
  
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind. Before she had time to think, she was already in this man's arms, his lips against hers. But it wasn't just any man. It was Levi. Levi who had spen the last couple of minutes racing to the party, thinking of how he was going to explain himself to her before it was too late. Before it was the new year. And when he saw her standing there in her green dress, looking very beautiful, but kind of lost, he knew exactly how he was going to do it.  
  
"Happy New Year," he whispered in her ear.  
  
He stayed in the embrace for as long as he could. The new year was going to begin with something new. Something most unlikely. A kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Keep the Levihan strong in 2014!


End file.
